CategoryNewsletter

Email newsletters of the radio show/podcast A Way with Words. Subscribe here!

Snarky Last-Ditch Effort

Halloo and ahoy! If you missed last weekend's episode of A Way with Words, it's now up on the web site: We had a good time as we talked with callers about: --the meaning and origin of "snarky" --"last-stich...

We Pinkie-Swear

Fellow wordivas and wordudes, This week on A Way with Words we start a brand-new season! To celebrate, we noodled with anagrams, including the one in the title of this episode. Listen here. Also on the show: A New York City schoolteacher asks...

Points on a Compass, the Saga Continues

Welcome to another edition of the "A Way with Words" newsletter! Remember Tom, the guy who's still trying to recall a word he insists he learned long ago? He said it meant "the points on a compass." We spoke to him on the air...

Blue Bark Mystery; Words of the Year; New Shows!

Bongiorno! In this week's podcast, a caller asks a delicate question about “blue bark shipment,” an expression involving the transport of deceased members of the military. Martha and Grant discuss the challenge of tracking down its...

Let’s Blow This Joint

Salutations, Earthlings. Take me to your podcast! This week a caller sends us off on a slang-infested trip about saying fast good-byes. Listen as we blow pop, popcorn, and taco stands by way of author Jim Harrison, the comic strip Funky...

Dangerous Books You Should Read

Howdy, pilgrims! This week in the A Way with Words podcast, discover the joys (and temptations!) of two new books of collected wisdom: "The Yale Book of Quotations" edited by Fred Shapiro, and James Geary's "Guide to the...